by R. E. Butler
Things happened for a reason, even things that seemed devastating at the time.
Jack would be forever grateful for it, because it had brought Mrs. C to Ellie’s work, a flower shop across the street from Holly’s bar. If it weren’t for Tom’s mistake, Mrs. C wouldn’t have come to town and felt compelled to go to the bar, where she was certain that Jack and Vaughn would meet their fated mates.
He took Ivy’s hand as they walked deeper into the woods. “You know, I think Tom wanted to move all along, but Neve wanted to stay close to her cousin Ellie.”
“What changed?”
“Ellie found her… boyfriend.”
“And?”
“They moved where Tom and Neve were going to live, so everyone was happy in the end.”
“That’s cool. I can understand why Neve and Ellie didn’t want to be apart. Sometimes family is all you have, and you want to be close.”
He nodded. “Like you and Holly.”
She stopped and turned to face him, her cheeks pink from the cold. “If you needed to move away, I wouldn’t want you to leave me behind.”
“You’d come with me?”
She chewed on her bottom lip. “You keep saying we belong to each other.”
“We do.”
She shrugged. “If you got a job offer and it meant a better life for you, but you had to move… I wouldn’t ask you to stay for me. I’d ask you to take me with you.”
“For the record,” he said, pulling her close, “I would never go anywhere without you.”
“Good. I just wanted to be on the same page.”
“We are, sweetheart. When your career takes off, I hope you know I’ll be by your side the whole way.”
“When?” she asked with a smile.
“Definitely. Wherever music takes you, I’ll be there.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
She rose onto her toes and kissed him, hooking her arms around his neck. He loved to kiss her. She tasted as amazing as she smelled, like sugar and sweet dreams.
As they walked and talked, they held hands, and he honestly felt even closer to her. He couldn’t deny that taking the time to get to know her first before they moved into the physical side of their relationship had given him a serious appreciation of how amazing she was as a person, inside and out. He knew if they’d jumped into making love that first night, he would’ve found out all these things about her in time, but he liked knowing them now.
The moon overhead cast a bright light over the woods, lending an ethereal glow to the trees and the snow. He stopped walking and pulled Ivy close. Her breath gusted from her lips as he smiled down at her. He opened his mouth to tell her he loved her, that he thought he’d loved her the moment he transported to town and felt her presence in some strange, magical way.
A branch cracked nearby.
He snapped his head toward the sound, his beasts murmuring in worry.
“What?” she asked.
“Let’s go back to the cabin.”
He turned her around, his hackles raised as he sensed something moving toward them.
“Jack?”
A snarl sounded, closer now, heavy footfalls echoing in the woods around them. He cursed himself for taking her so far from the safety of their temporary home as he spun and pushed her behind him.
“Go to the cabin, sweetheart.”
“What? Why?” He could hear the panic in her voice and hated that he hadn’t been more vigilant.
“Something’s coming. Go, I’ll keep it away from you.”
“Come with me,” she urged.
A large bear appeared, head low and a growl rumbling in its chest.
“Shit,” she whispered.
“Go!” His beasts rose to the forefront, urging him to keep their mate safe at any cost.
“I won’t leave you. Jack, please, come with me,” she said, tugging on his arm.
He swept his gaze over the ground and spied a branch sticking out of the ground. He grabbed it, brandishing it at the bear. It roared, taking a few steps closer. His beasts were furious, partly because their sweet mate refused to leave without them.
He kept hold of his beasts as long as he could, but when the bear bellowed again, he couldn’t stop himself from shifting. His only thought was to keep Ivy safe at all cost, even if it meant revealing the secret nature of his shift.
She was worth everything.
He had barely enough time to shed his coat before his enormous polar bear came forth, Ivy gasping behind him. He landed heavily on his paws, the ground shaking with his weight. The bear roared and Jack returned the sound, telling the bear to take a hike before it got hurt. He didn’t want to kill it, but he would do anything to protect his mate.
Ivy screamed as the bear charged. Jack roared as he met it in the air, their bodies crashing, fangs glinting in the moonlight, claws bared. He slammed the bear to the ground, lifting onto his hindlegs. It straightened and came at him, swiping its claws wide and fast. He rolled out of the way, grasping its hindlegs as it tried to get to Ivy. The bear slammed to the ground, the snow fluffing up around it. He hefted it, and it rolled several feet away.
Shaking its head, it lumbered to its feet and bared its fangs. As it charged, Jack lowered his head and met it shoulder to shoulder, claws digging and jaws snapping. He felt the air move as the bear toppled him to his back, its claws raking up his sides and the scent of blood heavy in the air. Pain made his vision fade out, but he heard Ivy’s cry of alarm, which pushed him to his feet in spite of the wounds. He lunged, sinking his claws into the bear’s shoulders and twisting as he took it to the ground. He closed his jaws around its neck and gave it a mighty shake, snapping the bones with a quick motion.
The bear went still and Jack released his hold on it, settling back on his haunches. His ears were ringing, and his sides ached. Aside from the gaping wounds, he was sure he had a few broken ribs. But he’d suffer it a hundred times over to see Ivy protected.
Turning to face her, he saw her skin was as white as a sheet, her eyes wide with fright. He wished he could talk to her in his shifted form, because he’d tell her that he was still him even though he was a polar bear.
He looked at the dead bear at his feet, then rose to all fours, just before everything went black and he slammed to the ground.
Chapter 11
Ivy couldn’t stop looking between the two animals. Did Jack just turn into a freaking polar bear?
It swung its head around and looked at her, and she knew she was staring into Jack’s eyes. Those eyes drooped as he swayed, slamming to the ground with a groan as blood soaked the snow.
“Jack!” Her voice echoed in the night, terror clutching at her limbs as she looked between the fallen bear and her knight in furry armor.
Snapping out of her frozen state, she eyed the real bear tentatively as she moved to Jack’s side and gasped at the gaping wounds from the other bear’s claws. She placed her hands gingerly on his furry head and blinked at the tears that threatened. He’d saved her life.
“Jack. Oh please, Jack. I can’t get you into the house. You’re too big. Can you change back?”
His chest heaved as he inhaled, and then he let out a roar that was so loud it made her ears hurt. He slowly changed from the giant polar bear back to his human form, the wound in his side still seeping blood. He wobbled to his feet as she helped him, grunting as he leaned heavily on her. She refused to fall, steeling her spine and reaching for every bit of strength she possessed.
It took a while and several curses, but she was able to get Jack into the cabin and on the couch. She locked the front door and hurried to the bathroom, where she’d seen a medical kit. After wetting a towel and picking up the kit, she rushed back to the couch.
She dropped to her knees and opened the kit with shaking fingers. “I have zero medical training. If you had a splinter, I could totally help with that, but you’re really hurt.” She blinked back tears. “I need to get you to a hospital.”
He opene
d his eyes. “No hospital.”
“I don’t know how to help you. Please, Jack.” Tears slipped over her cheeks.
“I’m already healing because of my shift. I just need to rest. You can’t tell anyone, Ivy. Not even Holly.”
She’d never kept a secret from her sister in her life, but she’d keep this one. After only a week, she was already falling hard for Jack. Hell, if she was being honest, she was entirely in love with him. Seeing him fight for her against a bear had cemented things for her. Life was short, and Jack was hers. She didn’t want to waste another second.
“I promise,” she said, brushing at the tears on her cheeks. “Just don’t die on me, okay?”
A tiny smile curved his lips. “I won’t.”
She lifted the towel to look at the wounds. “You really are healing fast.”
“Because I’m a shifter.”
“I have so many questions, but you said you need to rest. What can I do?”
“Just stay with me, mate.”
“Mate?” she whispered, feeling a twinge of pleasure arc through her at the term.
“Likli fanna. My fated mate,” he rasped, his brow knitted in pain.
Fresh tears surged over her cheeks as she smiled, leaning over to kiss him. “I’ll be here when you wake. Rest, Jack. Mate.”
* * *
Ivy woke to the sound of logs knocking together. She opened her eyes and realized she wasn’t on the floor anymore but was now stretched out on the couch underneath a quilt. Jack, with a towel wrapped around his waist, was setting wood in the fireplace, the logs crackling and spitting as they caught fire.
“Sorry to wake you,” he said. “I got out of the bathroom and the fire had died down too much. It was starting to get chilly in here.”
She sat up. “Are you okay?”
He set another log on the fire and closed the screen, then brushed his hands off on the towel. He straightened and her gaze went to his side, where four faint scars were all that remained of the fight. “I’m great.”
“Why did that bear come after us?” She wasn’t sure she’d ever forget the sight of Jack and the bear fighting. She’d never been so scared in her life.
“I’m not sure. He looked kind of thin, so he might’ve been looking for food. Or it’s possible that he somehow recognized I was a shifter and felt I was trespassing in his territory.”
She mused on that for a moment. “Your friends who own this place, are they shifters?”
“Tom is, yes.”
“But a bear never came after him?”
Jack shrugged. “Not that I’m aware of. I think we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Yeah, but I was definitely with the right guy. You really are special, aren’t you?”
He nodded. “I’m with the right girl, too. Now, you said you had questions, and I want to answer them all. But I need to make sure you understand that everything we discuss must stay between us. Holly can’t know, and neither can anyone else.”
“It would be dangerous if people knew.”
“Yes. Not just for me but for my people.”
“I promise I won’t tell Holly.”
“Now, it might be moot,” Jack explained, “because Vaughn believes Holly is his fated mate, too. We might get back to the bar and find they’re mated, and he’s shared our shifting nature with her. But in case he hasn’t, you have to keep this between us.”
Her brows rose. “I knew Vaughn liked her. Hopefully she gets her head out of her butt long enough to see a good thing when it’s in front of her. Like I did.”
He grinned. “I hope so, too, but I truly only care that you’re mine. It’s a relief to have shown you my shift, even though I wish it hadn’t happened like that. You could’ve been seriously hurt, and you don’t have my quick healing.”
“You saved my life.”
“I’d gladly give mine for you.”
Her stomach fluttered. “I don’t want you to have to do that.”
“Let’s just promise to try not to get into dangerous situations like that again.”
“Deal. So, you called me your fated mate.”
He joined her on the couch, and she very much wished he wasn’t wearing the towel. If it was possible, she was even more attracted to him than she’d been before.
“I’m what’s known as a quad shifter. I can transform into four different animals: polar bear, arctic fox, snowy owl, and reindeer. My people live in a magically hidden city, and only quads, elves, and mates can live there.”
She blinked. “Did you say elves?”
“Yep. We call our city NPC, which is short for North Pole City.”
“I suppose you know Santa?” She couldn’t stop the snort that followed.
“As a matter of fact, I do. I work for him. I’m one of the reindeer who drive the sleigh on Christmas. And you saw his wife already.”
“I did?”
“She’s the one who told Holly about me and Vaughn.”
It took her a moment to think back to Christmas Eve. The woman had looked young, but there had been something about her that Ivy hadn’t been able to place. Even from where she sat on the stage, she’d been drawn to look at the woman who had stopped a bar fight with only a few words, and then left a tip for Holly of a few hundred dollars.
“That was Mrs. Claus?”
“We call her Mrs. C, but yes. She wanted me and Vaughn to come to the bar to help out because she believed he and I would find our fated mates there.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Quads are unique within NPC. We’re the only ones who have a fated mate, the one person on the planet who’s meant to be ours. Shifters and elves don’t date in NPC. They have Mrs. C perform a magical spell and draw them together with their mate. But quads recognize their fated mate on sight, and that’s what happened when I met you.”
“Is that why I felt drawn to you even though we were strangers?”
“Did I really seem like a stranger, though?”
“No.”
“NPC is magically closed every day of the year except from dawn on Christmas Eve to dawn on Christmas Day. Mrs. C told us to come here, and we packed up and moved into our friend’s apartment.”
“If the city is closed, then you can’t go home until next Christmas, right?”
“Yes. If we go home, that is.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m from NPC. I was born there and I have family there, plus my job in security as well as the sleigh position. But you’re here, and if you want to stay in this world, I can stay here with you, too.”
“You’d give up your family and home for me?”
“Where you are is home for me, Ivy. If you wanted to come with me to NPC, I’d love that, but I’d also happily stay here for you, too.” He cupped her face and gazed at her tenderly. “We don’t have to make any decisions right now. Let’s just get to know each other and then see where the future takes us. As long as I have you, I have everything I need.”
“You’re amazing.”
“I’m not. I’m just honest.”
She chewed on her bottom lip. “We just talked about this on the drive here. Were you thinking about NPC when I said I’d go anywhere with you?”
He nodded. “I don’t mind staying here, sweetheart.”
“But you can’t shift in public.”
“I can here in the woods where there’re no humans around for miles. I only need to shift every now and then. It’s not as if I’m running into the woods every night to change forms.”
Her first instinct was to tell him she’d go to NPC with him the moment they could. He had a huge secret that needed to stay that way, and if being in her world was dangerous, then it was the last place he needed to be. Although, when she said she’d go with him wherever he needed to go, she’d thought about leaving the city or state, not going somewhere that was magically closed every day of the year but one.
“Maybe they’ll be mated when we get back.”
“I don’t care about that. I only care about you.”
“We have time one way or the other, right?”
“Yep, a little less than a year.”
“A lot can happen in a year.”
“Absolutely.”
“What does mating mean, anyway? Like… sex?” She whispered the last word and he chuckled.
“Yes, but my beasts want to mark you with fangs during sex. It’ll leave a scar and is a way to identify you as mated.”
“You want to bite me?” Her hand flew to her neck.
“I promise to make you feel really good beforehand, so you’ll hardly feel it. But we’re getting a little ahead of things. We don’t have to do that now. We can still take things slowly and continue to get to know each other.”
“Do you want to take things slowly?”
Chapter 12
Wasn’t that the million-dollar question?
With his mate sitting next to him, her eyes wide with curiosity and the sweet scent of her arousal beating at him like a club, he could think of nothing but taking her.
And not slowly.
At least not at first.
“I want whatever you want, Ivy.”
“I want–” Her gaze slipped down to his towel-covered hips. “– to be yours.”
He reached for her and she came willingly, leaning into him and wrapping her arms around his neck as he kissed her. Her mouth parted on a moan and he slid his tongue against hers, deepening the kiss as his beasts clamored in excitement. His fangs threatened to erupt from his gums, but he kept them at bay, not wanting to nick her while they kissed.